The Sound of Hooves
by Cyber Emblem
Summary: A character study of Faye, from Shadows of Valentia, because in such a well written game, there has to be more to her than a two dimensional, obsessed, unlucky childhood friend. Spoilers, she's insane. May or may not have a follow up.


_Here is a one shot about Faye, because God knows the girl needs more depth. I thought both new playable characters in Echoes were rather pointless, but I somehow managed to like Faye better than Conrad, so that's why I'm posting a story about her on the eve of my birthday. Before anyone asks, yes, I was, in fact, inspired by the backstory of a certain major character from "Doctor Who". As always, please leave a review and enjoy!_

* * *

Despite her illogical and obsessive behavior, it was the sad truth that nobody who knew Faye really understood what it was that drove her to act as she did.

No one understood that her obsession with Alm was driven by madness.

It had all begun as a normal crush. What young girl wouldn't become completely enamored with a boy like Alm? Perhaps if she had had a normal childhood, her crush would've played out in a healthy manner and been ultimately resolvable. Maybe she would've lost her feelings or would've been able to see potential in someone else.

But she didn't have a normal childhood. For the arrival of Slayde and his fellow "knights" stained it and ruined her mind forevermore.

One of the first things that she noticed about them was the sound that their horses made, or more specifically, their hoofbeats. Faye was not unfamiliar with horses. Horses weren't widely available in Ram Village, but they weren't an uncommon sight. So she was used to the sound of hooves, especially since there were plenty of other hooved beasts around cloven or not. But... even though the knight's horses only took a few steps within earshot, something about them... they rang wrong in Faye's ears. As if the rider's malevolence influenced even the sounds they made as they rode.

She wasn't sure what it was about the hoofbeats that made her nervous, but she was already on edge as the boys initiated their conversation with the knights. Then things took a turn for the worse and one charged at her, scooped her off the ground, and held a sword to her neck. Her life flashed before her eyes, but since she had yet to live long however it was a rapid sequence, and for several agonizing moments, her brain focused the last thing that she had heard instead. The sound of thundering hoofbeats.

The sound bounced around in her brain as if it were an echo chamber, loud and rapid, as if it were really the beat of a war drum.

**CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP!**

Suddenly, Alm was there, coming to her rescue and the hoofbeats suddenly went away. Now here came Mycen riding to everybody's rescue. His hoofbeats sounded similar to these knights, but... friendlier. His didn't bother her so much. They were less like a war drum and more like... rain on leather? Rain on a house? Now was not the time to think of an apt comparison because it was time to fight.

She thought that she was doing well, but then she heard them.

**CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! _CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP!_ _CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP!_**

The pounding hooves of a knight flanking her. She held up her blade, but he used the backside of his lance to quickly sweep her feet from under her. She fell flat on her back while the knight rose his lance above her, ready to impale her. The infernal sound of his hoofbeats were ringing loud and clear in Faye's ears like an echo chamber once again.

Then Alm came charging in. He grabbed ahold of the man's saddle, used it to boost himself up, and leapt up and stabbed the knight in the neck.

Alm came to Faye, and extended his hand towards her in order to help her up. In that moment, the sound of hooves once again subsided and he became her world. Right then, and forevermore.

* * *

Everyone was so focused on what had happened with Celica, that Faye's needs were neglected and her trauma from the attack was never, in fact, properly addressed.

From that day onwards, if she thought of that event, got involved in talk or practice for warfare, or even if she simply got bored of a conversation, she would hear them. The thundering hoofbeats would return, pounding away in the echo chamber of her mind.

**CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP!**

It was enough to drive a girl mad. At first it happened infrequently, but then, the hoofbeats found more and more occasions to arise from the depths of her mind. Too afraid to tell anyone about due to dread of the reactions to the revelation, it eventually reached the point where she couldn't properly manager them anymore. She only had one reprieve and one reprieve only from the incessant hoofbeats.

Thinking about Alm. Only by putting him in the forefront of her mind could she escape from the constant hoofbeats. Is it any wonder that Alm eventually became the only subject that she was interested in discussing?

Her family was oblivious to her plight. Though Mycen did suspect _something_ was up with her after Slayde's appearance at Ram. That's why she was the only girl in the village who was taught how to fight. So he could keep an eye on her and to try to help her put her mind at ease. Now if she got into such a situation again, she could properly defend herself. His study of her mentality was... inconclusive. He could tell that she was unstable, but he never got proof of just how unstable she was.

It wasn't until he had abandoned the village and the youths had joined the Deliverance that the true depths of her insanity began to show.

It was her first real battle since that fateful encounter with Slayde. She got separated from the others, and... she was alone, no enemies or allies in close proximity. She had nothing but her blade, and the hoofbeats in her head. Then she saw him. A thug lurking, waiting to approach then ambush her precious Alm from behind. As soon as she noticed this, the hoofbeats became so loud, they were ringing in her ears.

She quietly approached the brigand, grabbed him from behind and stabbed him in the throat. Then she threw him to the ground and hacked away at his head and didn't stop until it was a bloody, unrecognizable mess. She stood there for a moment, covered in blood and breathing hard, the sound of hooves subsiding momentarily as she hovered over her slain foe.

For most, their reaction to killing someone for the first time would be to vomit or to have a nervous breakdown and cry tears of sorrow. Instead, she stared at the blood, and she did cry a little, but they were tears of joy, not sorrow! For now she had found something else that could silence her hoofbeats. Slaying Alm's enemies!

* * *

She brushed off her friends's concerns about the amount of blood on her body by claiming that she hit an artery and that her foe fell on top of her.

When it was time to reclass, she did not go the expected route. Sure, she had some training with a staff, and her mother had taught her a trick to use with one that most clerics did not know, but a stamina restoring technique wouldn't be THAT useful for slaying Alm's enemies! Besides, that Silque lady seemed to have the healing duties covered.

Faye wanted to be able to cover ground quickly and be able to get to Alm's side ASAP if he found himself in danger, no matter the circumstances. She wanted to make him rely on her. So, she chose to become a pegasus knight instead of a cleric, like everyone expected. The advantage of riding a _winged_ horse? It didn't make that infernal clopping sound nearly as often, so it didn't aggravate her problem as much as an ordinary war horse would have.

Though, her style was... unorthodox. She stayed as close to Alm as possible at all times (which generally wasn't advisable as he was the leader and thus most likely to be targeted), was hyper aggressive in her fighting style (again, not advisable for a pegasus knight, which tend to be fragile speedsters), and made it a practice to always aim for the head or the neck (which, would assure an instant kill if she struck true, was a smaller target and thus harder to strike, thus greatly reducing her hit rate).

Her friends did notice her irrational behavior, and while they would, on occasion, stop to point it out, they were generally to preoccupied with their own affairs to do what was really needed. Stage an intervention and get to the root of all of her issues.

And so they left her alone, alone with her hoofbeats.

**CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP!**

* * *

The war was nearly over and now, for her, it was the moment of truth, the moment where her dreams were either accepted or denied "Alm...Our journey will be over soon, won't it?" she started. Then she related to him what her dream for the future was. "So do you think it'll come true?" she asked. It was the moment of truth, and the world seemed eerily still around her. She couldn't hear a sound except for those made by Alm.

Alm sighed and said "I'm sorry, Faye, but...no. I'm not going back to the village."

_**CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP**_ _**CLOP-CLOP!**_ _**CLOP**_ _**CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP!**_

"I can't. Not anymore. There are too many things left for me to do. But I'll always be thankful for you and all my friends back home. I never would have found my place in the world if it wasn't for you. You're very special to me, Faye. Just...not in the way you want. So knowing all that, will you keep journeying with me anyway?" he asked, giving her a sad smile.

Her hands began to shake, and her body began to sway, and she raised a hand and pressed it against her temple, as if that would silence the noise in her head. Desperate to keep herself together and not break now, after being able to maintain herself for so long, she gathered her nerves and, tried her best to make a sane sounding reply. "Oh, I suppose. This IS a pretty grand adventure, after all. Still, I thought that if I came with you, we'd find something together that..." The hoofbeats practically rang from her mouth and cut her off.

She couldn't do it. So, instead, she changed her statement to a desperate plea. "Oh... never mind. I should've known such a thing wasn't really possible. But I'd like to keep my feelings for you, if that's all right. At least until we part? Will you allow me that much?"

Alm wanted to say no. He had grown to realize just how unhealthy her obsession with him was, and knew full well that something had to be done about it. But... he wasn't fooled by her calm facade. As he watched her reaction and her body language, he realized that there was something terribly wrong with her. He knew she was unbalanced, but wasn't sure if she had always been this unstable, or if the war had brought her to this point.

What he did know, however, is that if he outright said no to her right now... she just might reach the breaking point and snap completely. He could _not_ deal with that right now, so, instead, he told her that she could.

The incessant hoofbeats quieted, and she was on her way to figuring out her next move.

Alm had every intention of following up on this, but with everything that followed... he wound up managing to forget about it... somehow. So he left her alone. Alone with her hoofbeats and her obsession.

**CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP! CLOP CLOP-CLOP CLOP-CLOP!**


End file.
